Lost Shadows on the Floor
by sol-li
Summary: A mysterious cry in the woods leads Kagome and Miroku to an abandoned shrine with a dead woman inside. But with the woman is a still-living baby who has an unusual connection to Inuyasha.
1. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE  
  
*  
  
The shrine was overgrown with vines and weeds. Sunlight shone through holes in the roof, and rats scuttled across the floor. It had been abandoned for years, ever since the old monk who had tended it had died. Travellers had buried him, but they could not stay to take care of his shrine.  
  
A cloaked figure appeared in the doorway. She was staggering as if she were drunk, clutching at the wall. Her ragged gasps stopped suddenly, and she collapsed to the floor in a heap.  
  
A high wail came from inside the cloak.  
  
*  
  
"Did you hear that?" Kagome asked.  
  
Miroku paused, listening to the still air. Then he shrugged, careful not to drop his armload of sticks. "Not really. What did you hear?" he asked, bending down to gather a handful of dry grass.  
  
"I thought I heard someone crying," Kagome said, staring off into the woods.   
  
"Could you have been hearing Shippo. If Inuyasha hit him-"  
  
"It wasn't Shippo."  
  
Miroku frowned. He set down his bundle of sticks. "Are you sensing the presence of a jewel shard, Kagome?"  
  
Kagome shook her head. They had made camp in the middle of a relatively peaceful forest, about three days from Kaede's village. Inuyasha had caught three rabbits and was just waiting for Kagome and Miroku to return with firewood.   
  
Kagome tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. If she strained, she could hear a distant high, mournful sound. It almost sounded like the wind. But there was a gasp in it that was entirely human. And the air was still. Quiet and soft. There wasn't enough wind to make any sort of noise like that.  
  
"I can still hear it," she said, wincing. "Come on, Miroku. Let's just make sure that things are okay."  
  
She set off into the woods. Miroku followed more slowly, with his cursed hand hanging loosely at his side. If anything unexpected happened, he would tear off the beads. He glanced at the hanging tree branches, at the cloudy skies, listening through the whisper of the wind.  
  
Ducking under a low branch, Kagome strained to hear the crying again. It reminded her of when a stray kitten had gotten lost in the shrine. On her way out to school, she had hard the kitten's crying and had managed to find it. There was an aching, lonely quality to this cry too...  
  
She brushed a branch out of the way, and found herself looking at a small shrine. It was run-down, to say the least. It didn't look like it was going to collapse anytime soon, but the roof was rotting and full of holes, and the door-screen was on the ground, torn apart by rats. Bugs were swarming all over the place.  
  
"I found it," Kagome called. Miroku stumbled out behind her, and hesitated. He couldn't sense any demonic evil inside the shrine -- but that didn't mean that a human might not be inside.  
  
She stepped carefully into the shrine, with one hand on her bow. There was a dark figure crumpled on the floor, not moving. Kagome took a deep breath, grabbed the edge of the cloak, and tore it off.  
  
"It's a woman," she said over her shoulder. "And she's dead."  
  
Miroku stepped inside and winced. The pallor of the woman's face showed that there was no question of her being dead. She was richly dressed, but her clothes were mudstained and torn in many places. Her long black hair was stuck to her bloodstained back, where three broken arrows were jutting.  
  
"Perhaps we-" Miroku began to say. But a high squeal interrupted him.   
  
Kagome knelt and peered under the woman's arm. "Miroku... I think we found out who was crying." She slipped a small bundle from under the dead woman's stiff arm and rested it against her shoulder. A flushed face peeked out at the monk.  
  
"A baby?" Miroku said.  
  
"Poor little guy," Kagome said, patting the baby's back. The baby nuzzled her shoulder. "His mom must have been trying to get to this shrine to hide. Maybe we can find the rest of his family..."  
  
As Kagome shifted the baby in her arms, the blanket fell back. Her gasp drew Miroku out of his reverie. When he saw the baby's face, he moved back in shock. "But he's... that's..."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO  
  
*  
  
It darted like a white streak under the bushes. He could smell its fear radiating from under a gnarled tree root. It was going to lie there while the predator came up on it.   
  
Trembling in the shadows, the rabbit sniffed the air. Its ears twitched as it heard a soft crunch, something stepping on the dry leaves. It saw a flash of red just a few seconds too late...  
  
"Gotcha!"  
  
Inuyasha's arm shot out and caught the struggling rabbit, dragging it from its hiding place. It wriggled frantically -- then went limp. Inuyasha looked the dead animal over carefully; it wasn't as good as the ones he had caught earlier, but it had been a much easier catch.  
  
"Must have had a weak heart," he said as he walked back to the camp.  
  
Sango paused from sharpening spits. "Good, that makes half a rabbit for each of us."  
  
Inuyasha dropped down beside the fire. "What's takin' them so long? It's just gathering some sticks."  
  
When Sango didn't answer, Inuyasha glanced over at Shippo and Kirara, who were tussling playfully on top of Kagome's backpack. Then he stood and began walking around the campsite, kicking at rocks and tufts of grass. He hated waiting -- he always had. Kagome had said it was one of his worst faults once when he had come to pick her up from school. "Not everybody is fast as a speeding bullet, you know," she had said as she jumped into the well.  
  
Well, if everyone weren't always so slow it wouldn't be a problem, Inuyasha thought, folding his arms. A half-demon especially had to be fast. It had saved his butt more times than he could count.  
  
He leapt up into the branches of a tree and scanned the horizon. Then he sagged down, frustrated. The trees clustered too closely  
  
He sat up sharply, sniffing. There was a familiar scent on the wind.  
  
Blood, he thought, sniffing again. Human blood. It's not Miroku or Kagome, though -- some other human. Maybe half a day old -- not very fresh. Whoever was bleeding is long gone, he thought. Either dead or just long gone.   
  
Yawning, Inuyasha sat back in the tree, resting his head on his arms. The sky above him was starting to clear, and he could see the glow of the sun shining through the clouds. He was still a little tired from tracking that wild demon hawk, which had been suspected of having a jewel shard. It turned out that the hawk was just plain crazy. No jewel shard, and it annoyed Inuyasha no end.  
  
Now he started to unwind, relaxing on the branch and watching the clouds float by. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't hear Miroku approaching. He started as the monk tapped his foot. "Mind coming down?" he said grimly.  
  
Inuyasha jumped down to the ground. "It's about time you got back. I could've found wood faster with-"  
  
"Never mind the wood," Miroku said, crossing his arms. There was a weird stern look on his face. It made Inuyasha want to growl. "Come with me, please."  
  
Inuyasha followed him reluctantly. Kagome was sitting by the fire, with something in her arms. Inuyasha bristled unconsciously. She looked stunned, as if something had upset her. But before he could ask what had happened, and why she was upset, Miroku interrupted him.  
  
Inuyasha stiffened as the monk tapped him on the shoulder. "Inuyasha, while Kagome and I were gathering wood, we came across a dead human."  
  
"Yeah, so?" Inuyasha said. "I smelled the blood, but it wasn't fresh, so I didn't worry about it."  
  
"Did the blood smell familiar at all?"  
  
"Nope. Why should it?"  
  
Miroku glanced over at Kagome. "The woman who died hadn't been dead for too long. We found a baby beside her body."  
  
"What's your point?" Inuyasha demanded. "I don't understand where this is all going."  
  
"Take a look at this." Miroku walked over to Kagome and pulled the blanket away from the baby's face. Sango gasped.  
  
Inuyasha froze. The baby yawned blinked golden eyes in the sunlight. Peeking around the edge of the blanket was a tuft of silver hair, and a crumpled white puppy ear.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE  
  
*  
  
The silence that fell was as cold and heavy as an avalanche. Inuyasha blinked, trying to take in what he saw. The baby in Kagome's arms looked just like him, right down to the tiny pointed dog ears. Sango inched closer and hesitantly touched the baby's face, as if to reassure herself that it was real. "This is the baby you found with the dead woman?" she asked. "A human woman?"  
  
"Exactly," Miroku said. "And I'm quite sure it was hers. There was a distinct resemblance."  
  
Sango glanced over at Inuyasha, then at Kagome. The girl from the future era was staring at the baby, still apparently stunned by her discovery. Absently she raised a hand and stroked the tiny ears. The baby whimpered softly, batting a tiny clawed fist at Kagome's fingers.  
  
Miroku crossed his arms. "Well?" he asked grimly. "Do you have anything to say, Inuyasha?"  
  
"Huh?" Inuyasha said absently, still staring at the baby.  
  
"Inuyasha," Miroku said heatedly, gesturing at Kagome. "It's terrible enough for Kagome when you have any dealings with Kikyo. She had accepted that, even though it hurts her whenever you do. But THIS -- this is far worse. How could you do this to her, after every-"  
  
"Hold on a minute!" Inuyasha said, snapping out of his trance. "What, you think I... you think that I... you think that little whelp is MINE?"  
  
"It seems fairly obvious," Miroku said sternly.  
  
"Well, it ISN'T." Inuyasha bristled. "What makes you think that it's mine?"  
  
"The dog ears, silver hair and claws," Miroku said.   
  
"So?"  
  
"So, I don't think there are many dog-eared young men wandering around the domain," Miroku said, sitting down on a rock. "In fact, you are the only one we have seen so far. It makes identifying paternity rather easy."  
  
"It's not mine!"  
  
"So you say. But the evidence is in front of your eyes." Miroku sat back. His dark eyes had an unusual expression of disapproval in them. Normally he condoned much and condemned little -- but he had expected better of Inuyasha, especially with Kagome. They might not officially be together, but Miroku knew that Inuyasha cared about Kagome. When she was troubled, so was he. At least, he thought, I could have sworn that he cared about her...  
  
Inuyasha was growling outright now, his hands curled as if he were about to rip something apart. "I don't know who the kid's father is, but he isn't me. I never saw him before."  
  
"Technically it isn't really necessary to 'see' the child," Miroku said dryly. "Only the mother."  
  
Before Inuyasha could erupt, Sango quickly stepped in front of him. "Miroku, I think you should give Inuyasha the benefit of the doubt."  
  
"THANK you," Inuyasha said tightly. "And just 'cause the kid has dog ears doesn't mean I'm the father. I never did... anything for that." He stopped, flushing slightly. "I ain't the only dog demon in the world, if you haven't noticed."  
  
"Well, who do you think is the father?" Miroku asked.  
  
"I don't know! I don't keep tabs on that sort of thing. Maybe it's Sesshoumaru's -- ever think of that?"  
  
Miroku sighed. "Do you have any idea of how stupid that sounds?"  
  
A slightly desperate edge was coming into Inuyasha's voice. He clenched his fists, as if he were going to hit something. "Dammit, I'm not the father. I know he looks like me, but there's no way he could be mine. So I'm that rotten, am I? None of you guys trust me, apparently."  
  
With that, he turned and stalked away into the woods.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
*  
  
"Inuyasha!"  
  
Inuyasha stirred on the tree branch. He let one leg drop, kicking idly at the leaves below him. A soft breeze brushed his face as he stared off into the sky, thinking about the dog-eared baby in Kagome's arms. He was still steaming over Miroku's constant insistence that he was the baby's father.  
  
That rotten monk, he thought, growling softly. Just assuming that the whelp was his without even asking. At least Sango had given him the benefit of the doubt. But what had smarted most was Kagome's silence. She hadn't said a word. Just stared at the baby's face.   
  
"Inuyasha, I know you're up there." Sango's voice floated up to him. "I can see you even from the ground."  
  
Inuyasha stayed still. No way they can get me back that easily, he thought sourly.  
  
Shippo's voice piped up. "Inuyasha, I'm going to get on Kirara and go up to get you if you don't come-"  
  
"Just try it!" Inuyasha snarled, jumping up.  
  
"So you ARE up there," Sango called. "Inuyasha, please come down. We want to talk to you."  
  
"Feh." Inuyasha slumped back down on the branch. "Give me one good reason."  
  
"Kagome," Sango said loudly. "She's very upset, Inuyasha. You could try to reassure her personally, instead of just fighting with Miroku."  
  
"Oh, so now SHE thinks I'm bed-hoppin' too?"  
  
"I didn't say that. She hasn't said a word about this whole thing, Inuyasha, and I think she's trying to take your side. But it's hard when you aren't speaking to her." Sango crossed her arms. "If you want to, you can stay up in that tree forever. But keep in mind that the longer you put off talking with Kagome, the harder it's going to be when you finally cave in. For both of you."  
  
Inuyasha reluctantly watched the demon-slayer walking off in the direction of their camp. Then he began idly kicking at a small tree branch, letting his troubled mind wander.   
  
*  
  
A blur of red and white shot from the treetops, soaring toward the field where the camp was located. Inuyasha's features were set in a grimace at the thought of what was probably ahead. "Upset," for Kagome, could mean anything from blind rage to depression, and either could result in her yelling "sit!" at him. I should've asked Sango if she was mad at me, he thought.  
  
He glimpsed her sitting by the campfire, and landed lightly behind her. In front of the fire was a little blanket-wrapped bundle. Inuyasha could see a tiny hand poking out of it. What made him grimace was the blunt talons on its fingers. Like mine, when I was little, he thought, looking at his own hand with its pointed claws. He reluctantly turned his gaze away.  
  
"Kagome..." he said awkwardly. "I... can... can we talk?"  
  
Kagome ladled some water into the pot. "Pass me that ramen, will you?" she said tonelessly.  
  
Inuyasha did as she asked. "What are you doing?" he asked.  
  
"Making it for the baby," Kagome said, ripping open the packet. "He's too little to eat the noodles, I think, but I thought I could feed him the broth. At least until we find something better."  
  
"You've taken care of babies before?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Yeah, I did some babysitting a few years ago. I know the basics," Kagome said. "How to change them, feed them, get them to sleep... not too complicated, actually."  
  
Inuyasha grimaced. This was going nowhere; they were just making small talk, not approaching the real issue here. He started to reply, then growled softly. He could hear Miroku and Sango approaching from behind. "How's the child, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked smoothly.  
  
"How would I know? Kagome's taking care of him," Inuyasha snarled. "Where were you three, anyway?"  
  
"Preparing the body of the child's mother for burial," Miroku said solemnly, sitting by the fire. Shippo hopped off his shoulder, sniffing the air. "That poor woman cannot simply be left to the scavengers, Inuyasha. Would you like to come with us?"  
  
"Why would I?" Inuyasha bellowed. He jumped to his feet. "I didn't know her!"  
  
A high-pitched cry came from inside the blanket. Kagome dropped the ramen packet and picked up the baby, joggling him against her. "It's okay, it's okay, he wasn't yelling at you," she said quietly. But the baby continued crying, flailing his tiny fists against Kagome's chest.  
  
"Interesting," Miroku said, resting his chin on his hand. "They even shout the same way."  
  
"Shut UP!" Inuyasha growled, his claws clicking ominously.  
  
Kagome started to shift the baby up to her shoulder, only to draw back when his fists started pounding her neck. "I don't think he wants me..." She followed the child's golden eyes -- to a very flustered Inuyasha. "I think he wants Inuyasha... to hold him."  
  
"What?" Inuyasha said. "I can't -- I mean, I never -- I don't -- "  
  
"He must think Inuyasha is his father," Sango said quietly. Despite Inuyasha's spluttering, she continued, "Kagome doesn't smell like his mother, but I'm sure he recognizes another dog-demon."  
  
Kagome managed to calm the hiccuping infant by rocking him back and forth. Her eyes met the baby's, and for the first time she looked carefully over his little flushed face, his clawed hands, his silver hair, and his puppy ears. He looks so much like Inuyasha, she thought. Like he must have when he was a little baby. I want to believe him... I know he wouldn't lie to me... but then... whose baby is this?  
  
When she looked up, she found Inuyasha staring at her. Miroku and Sango were seated behind him, and she knew they couldn't see his face. He looked almost desperate. She had the feeling he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words.  
  
"Kagome?" Shippo said. "Can I see the baby?"  
  
"Sure," Kagome said absently, not looking away from Inuyasha. She was afraid of what he might say if she broke his gaze.  
  
Shippo hopped onto Kagome's lap and studied the baby's face. "It's not Inuyasha's," he announced.  
  
"What?" Miroku said, sounding stunned. "Shippo, how can you tell?"  
  
"I can smell that it's half human," Shippo said matter-of-factly. "If it were Inuyasha's, it would have a lot more human blood. But it smells the same way he does. Only different."  
  
Kagome looked down at the fussing baby's face. A wave of relief went through her. "Inuyasha, I-" she started to say. But Inuyasha had vanished.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
*  
  
"Inuyasha?" Kagome called. She brushed the branches out of her way and stepped into the clearing, looked over the trees for his red clothes. "Inuyasha, where are you?" she called. "Please answer me... please answer. Inuyasha! INUYASHA!"  
  
A splash from a nearby stream caught her attention. Inuyasha was crouched on the bank, moodily watching the fish. His long legs hung down into the water. She could only see a little of his face, but he looked unhappy. Angry? It was hard to tell.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she said, sitting down beside him. When he didn't answer, Kagome stripped off her shoes and socks, and slipped her feet into the water beside his.   
  
Inuyasha kept staring at the fish, even after Kagome had settled beside him. A few times he started to look up, but avoided her eyes. Kagome kept quiet; there were a thousand things she wanted to say, starting with "sorry." But it would be better if she knew what Inuyasha was feeling. So she kept quiet, waiting for him to talk.  
  
"So now do you believe me?" Inuyasha said after awhile.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You thought Miroku was right, didn't you?" Inuyasha said bitterly. "Get real, Kagome. What, did you think I was slinkin' around at night while the rest of you were asleep."  
  
"One thing did make me nervous," Kagome confessed awkwardly. "I mean, ten months ago we weren't exactly getting along."  
  
She could tell from Inuyasha's blank expression that he didn't remember. "It was about three weeks after I got you off the God-Tree," she reminded him. "And you were still insisting that I was an idiot and a pain and that you hated me because I looked like Kikyo, and the only reason you put up with me was because you wanted the jewel."  
  
Inuyasha flushed slightly. "So, you think if we're not gettin' along, I'm just going to go off and sleep with any peasant women I come across, then go off searching for more shards? Meeting with Kikyo is pretty far from the sort of stuff Miroku does. Is that the sort of guy you think I am?" He turned away sharply.   
  
"No, I don't," Kagome said to his back. "That wasn't what I meant, Inuyasha. I know that isn't the sort of thing you'd do."  
  
Inuyasha mumbled something incoherent.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said," Inuyasha said loudly, turning to face her, "it's not like anyone would HAVE me even if I wanted to."  
  
Kagome drew back slightly. Then, when Inuyasha resumed staring at the stream, she put a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened slightly at the touch. "That's not true, Inuyasha," she said quietly. "But you're right about one thing. You aren't the sort of guy who does that. And that's what I kept thinking when I was looking at the baby. I knew you wouldn't just do that, and you'd never lie about something that important, but I was trying to reconcile it with what I was looking at." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I shouldn't have doubted you for even a little while."  
  
"Damn right you shouldn't have," Inuyasha said gruffly. But Kagome could see that he was relieved.  
  
Kagome gave his sleeve a tug. "Come on. Miroku's going to say some prayers for the dead woman we found. We should probably be there."  
  
*  
  
Inuyasha still found it hard to look at the little silver-haired baby in Kagome's arms. The child was fussing and whining. He smells his mother's blood in the air, Inuyasha thought. And it was only the start of the child's troubles, from that day forward. Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked away.  
  
He let his eyes linger on the dead woman. Her pale face was peaceful, and Sango had washed most of the dried blood from her dark hair and torn silk clothing. His eyes narrowed slightly.   
  
Miroku finished intoning prayers over the woman. "Do we have a shovel?" he asked.   
  
"I have one at the camp," Sango said. "I could-"  
  
"Don't bother," Inuyasha interrupted. "I'll do it myself."   
  
He moved past Miroku and started digging with his bare hands, scratching the dirt behind him like a dog. There was a tense, intent look on his face, as if nothing could budge him from his task. With a grunt he heaved a large rock into the bushes and kept digging.  
  
The others watched quietly from a distance. When Inuyasha had dug a pit that satisfied him, he jumped out and went to the dead woman. Carefully, he lifted her and placed her in the grave. After taking a lingering look at her face, he began pushing mounds of dirt back into the grave to cover her.  
  
Miroku frowned. "Why is Inuyasha doing this?" he whispered to Kagome. "I thought he said he hadn't ever seen the woman. Yet the way he's acting..."  
  
"I don't know, but..." Kagome hesitated. "I think... she reminds him of his mother. Inuyasha lost her when he was very young. I don't know how she died or exactly when, but he really loved her." She patted the crying baby, stroked his little ears.  
  
"I see," Miroku said.  
  
Inuyasha scraped the last of the dirt onto the grave, and watched it silently for a moment. Then he turned back toward Kagome.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX  
  
*  
  
Kagome bounced the crying baby against her shoulder, but her eyes were locked on Inuyasha as he walked heavily away from the fresh grave. She recognized the expression. His face was blank, but there was a pained look in his eyes that brought her back to when she had barely saved him from the Nothing Woman.  
  
It was a brand of unhappiness that she hadn't seen him exhibit anywhere else. Not for her, not for Kikyo, not for anybody or anything.  
  
I was right, she thought sadly. He was thinking about his mother. That woman didn't even look much like her, but the little orphaned half-demon baby with a dead human mother... it must have brought back some really painful memories for him.  
  
She looked down at the baby. The little dog-eared child had apparently worn himself out, and was now half-asleep, sucking on his little fist. He really did look like Inuyasha in most of the details, like his hair and ears and eyes and hands. Although if she looked carefully, she could see differences. His hair was a slightly darker shade of silver, and his eyes a little paler. But at first glance, he just looks like a tinier version of Inuyasha, she thought.  
  
"Is Inuyasha all right?" Sango sat down beside Kagome. "I just saw him stomping back to the campsite. He didn't start another fight, did he?"  
  
"No," Kagome said absently. "He was just upset by that woman's death. I should probably go talk to him. Sango, would you hold the baby for a little while?"  
  
Inuyasha was crouching by the fire when she got back. Shippo and Kirara were munching on roasted fish, and as she arrived, Inuyasha was snapping, "Shut up, runt! It's none of your business." He folded his hands into his sleeves and looked away.  
  
"I asked Sango to watch the baby for a little while," Kagome said, sitting next to him. "You wanna talk?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're still mad at me, aren't you?"  
  
"Nah," Inuyasha said, sitting down heavily. "I just don't feel like talkin'."  
  
Apparently taking his cue, Shippo stuck his fish back on the sharpened stick and sauntered away from the fire. Kirara followed him, with her fish in her mouth. Kagome brushed back her hair, watching the two of them go. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.   
  
Inuyasha didn't answer. He was still staring into the fire with a distant look in his eyes.  
  
Kagome watched him silently. His voice rang out in her head: "It's not like anyone would HAVE me even if I wanted to!" Her eyes softened as she looked at him. He sounded like he really meant it, she thought, and he did. From anybody else it would sound like a plea for sympathy, but Inuyasha's been alone most of his life. He believes it's true, that nobody would want to be with him. But it isn't...  
  
"What are you staring at?" Inuyasha demanded. "You're giving me all these sympathetic looks and I don't get it."  
  
"Oh, nothing much," Kagome said, smiling.   
  
*  
  
"A village?" Miroku said, frowning.   
  
"Yes," Sango said, leaning back and staring at the night sky. "Remember? We saw those merchants heading for the town the other day. I stopped and asked them for directions, since we were getting low on supplies."  
  
Kagome paused, with a spoonful of broth halfway to the baby's mouth. Inuyasha was reclined on a branch above her head, pretending not to listen. But she knew that he was paying attention to every word. "Do you think the woman came from there?" Kagome asked. The baby whimpered a little, and she quickly dribbled the broth into his mouth.  
  
"Quite probable," Miroku said. "Her clothes weren't very torn or dirtied, as you'd expect if she had been living alone in the woods for awhile. Besides, with those injuries she surely couldn't have come far."  
  
"Be careful what you ask," Inuyasha said in a loud, flat voice. "They killed her, I bet."  
  
"What?" Kagome said.  
  
"If you're thinking her demon lover killed her, you're wrong," Inuyasha said, sitting up. "Those were human arrows I felt in her back. They killed her because of him, probably." He pointed at the baby. "So don't go prancing in asking, 'Does anybody recognize this baby?'"  
  
"A wise precaution," Miroku said thoughtfully. "And Inuyasha, you should probably stay out of the village, especially if they are wary of demons. Considering the uncanny resemblance of the child, they might think you were the woman's lover."  
  
"They sure wouldn't be alone makin' that assumption," was all Inuyasha said before jumping up higher into the tree.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	7. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
*  
  
The village was just like dozens of others Kagome had been in, but somehow this one gave her the creeps. In the dark, smoky interior of the inn, she kept glancing at sullen-faced farmers, wondering. Wondering if one of them had shot down the unarmed woman in the woods, and left her poor baby to die out there.   
  
They had left the baby with Shippo and Kirara, back at the campsite. Fortunately the little half-demon was fast asleep, worn out by crying. Inuyasha had left the campsite before the others, still unwilling to look at the baby. Kagome wasn't sure why.  
  
Miroku was sitting still, sipping his drink. He glanced around the room, examining each man's face. None of them look particularly welcoming, he thought. It might be hard to get news of any recent demon-human children from them... or then again, it might not.  
  
"I hope Inuyasha remembers not to come out," Kagome whispered.  
  
"I think the possibility of being identified as the dead woman's lover will give Inuyasha ample reason to stay hidden," Miroku said. "Wrongly identified, pardon me. But he did say that he might be nearby, to listen."  
  
A faint thump from the ceiling made Kagome jump.   
  
Miroku finished his drink and got up. Without an invitation, he sat down at a nearby table of farmers and said smoothly, "Pardon me. I am a simple travelling monk, searching out those who have been corrupted by demons. My name is Miroku."  
  
"He can mix lies and truth without even blinking," Sango whispered to Kagome.   
  
"Yeah, he's really good at it," Kagome whispered back.  
  
One of the farmers, a guy with a nasty scar marring his eyebrows, grunted. "Have away with you. Our village has no demons near it. We've killed 'em all, one way or another." He sounded proud of that.  
  
"Really?" Miroku said, rubbing his chin. "You are truly fortunate, then. I have been to many, many villages and have found few that weren't plagued by demons of one sort or another."  
  
"Well, we ain't," a skeletal farmer said blearily.  
  
Miroku appeared to consider this. "Well, that's quite a relief. I had heard some certain stories about a young woman I thought might need my help. Has your village had any recent births of children with... oh, well, demonic characteristics? Anything unusual?"  
  
The room fell silent. The innkeeper, a fat bald man with an apron, turned bright red and seemed about to yell at Miroku, when Scarface announced proudly, "Aye, but no longer."  
  
"No longer?" Miroku asked. "Might you explain further? I am VERY eager to hear what happened."  
  
"We don't rightly know," Scarface said ominously. "But we got most of it from her maid. The girl blabbed it all when we caught them, and begged not to be hurt. We already knew about the demon."  
  
"Demon?"  
  
"Aye. A rich landowner was married to a pretty little peasant girl; she was all but sold to him, and he worshiped her even though he was almost old enough to her grandfather. Anyways, about ten months back he was killed by some damned demon, leaving the poor girl a widow. Well, we all showed her kindness, 'specially when we found out she was havin' a child.   
  
"She seemed real torn up about it, so we left well alone and tried to be real kind to her. Well, when the baby's born, she locks herself in her big house, hardly sees nobody, and when she does leave it's only with her baby kept with her maid. We all thought she was still grieving over losing her husband. What any decent girl would do.  
  
"Well, one day a lady-"  
  
"My wife," a pudgy farmer announced, raising his cup. "The gods bless her."  
  
"Yes, praise Buddha," Miroku said impatiently. "So, what happened?"  
  
"His wife was bringing in some dumplings, so she went inside and found the woman holding her baby in a blanket. She tried to keep it hidden. But when the blanket accidently fell off, Oji's wife saw the creature. Monstrous thing with a mouthful of fangs, razor-sharp claws, bone-white hair -- and a dog's ears. Horrible thing," Scarface said with relish, warming to his tale.  
  
Kagome stiffened as a faint scratching came from the roof. I really hope Inuyasha doesn't try barging in here, she thought fearfully. He had a way of getting involved in fights.  
  
"I see," Miroku said grimly. "So this man's wife told the other villagers about the demon baby."  
  
"Yep! We went after her through the woods, determined to kill her runt and make her suffer for bringing ill luck on us. But she got away -- though we cast a few good arrows after her. Serves her right."  
  
The sound of a tile shattering could be heard from one of the windows. The innkeeper frowned and glanced outside.  
  
"And her maid told all to us. The night her husband died, he came by and found her with a demon lover. He challenged the beast and was killed by him -- of course, the treacherous slut didn't tell us about that part. The demon didn't come 'round much after that, she said, and he'd stopped about six months before. He was some kind of dog demon." Scarface took a sip of sake, leering. "They'll be a lesson to anybody who dallies with a demon. We'll kill 'em and their spawn, that's what."  
  
"Thank you very much," Miroku said blandly. "You've been very helpful. I think it's time I and my lovely companions were leaving." He stood up and went back to Kagome and Sango's table.  
  
Kagome glanced out the door, as a blur of white and red shot into the treetops and vanished.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	8. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
*  
  
"THOSE BASTARDS!"  
  
Inuyasha's voice echoed through the field, scaring a few birds on the edge of the forests. Kagome started nervously. Then she began patting the fussing baby on the back. He hiccuped and was still.  
  
Inuyasha stalked past her, his hands clenched into fists. He'd already punched down one medium-sized tree over, and he seemed to be close to destroying a second. Kagome couldn't remember seeing him this angry -- ever. "Bastards!" he repeated.  
  
"Inuyasha, please calm down," Miroku said evenly. "You're upsetting the child."  
  
Inuyasha whirled to face the monk. "Did you hear them? Did you hear what they said? Those heartless bastards shot her down and they BOASTED about it. Just for havin' a half-demon baby. I'm gonna go back there and set fire to their roofs, I swear-"  
  
The baby interrupted Inuyasha with a high-pitched wail. He smashed his tiny flushed face against Kagome's shoulder and seemed to be trying to burrow into her. "What's the matter, little guy?" she whispered, stroking his back.  
  
The baby's sobs seemed to distract Inuyasha from his rage for a brief time. He looked uncertain what to do next. Miroku stood and went over to the fuming younger man. "I understand your anger, Inuyasha. I heard every word the villagers said, and while it did not affect me as deeply as it did you, I can understand your feelings."  
  
"Leave me alone!" Inuyasha stormed away to the edge of the campsite. He sat down and glared into the distance.   
  
Kagome watched him, a look of sadness coming into her eyes. Inuyasha almost always covered grief with anger, and as far as she could tell, he always had. He's thinking about his mother, she thought. I wonder how she died... and those villagers must remind him of humans who bullied him because he was half-demon too. Poor Inuyasha... it's just tearing off all the band-aids for him.  
  
She broke out of her thoughts when the baby whimpered. He was sucking on his fist with a somewhat frantic expression. "Hey, I think he's hungry," she called.  
  
"So feed him," Inayasha said sourly.  
  
"Oh come on, I can't feed him," Kagome said. "Not with anything better than broth."  
  
"Neither can I," Sango chimed in.  
  
There was a long pause, and all eyes turned to Inuyasha. "What is everyone starin' at me for?" he said, sounding slightly panicked.  
  
*  
  
"I don't see why I have to do this," Inuyasha grumbled.   
  
The pail bumped against his leg as he jumped over a fence. He scanned the fields, until he found what he was looking for. A very fat, slow-moving cow, grazing on the long grass beside a stream. She looked up at him  
  
"Just because we're both half demon, that doesn't mean the kid's my responsibility," Inuyasha said to himself as he strode toward the cow. "He's not mine, I didn't say or do nothin' to deserve this, and we can't keep him around."  
  
He gripped the cow's hors until it stopped acting nervous. Then he quickly crouched down, remembering all too vividly how often he'd done this as a child. He hated milking, but it was necessary for the baby. When he'd filled about a third of the bucket, he glanced around for anyone who might have seen him, then leaped away with the bucket on his shoulder.  
  
The baby was still whining when he landed beside Kagome. He set the bucket down and sat down, folding his hands into his sleeves. "There, you happy now?" he asked gruffly.  
  
"Oh come on Inuyasha. Why are you being so crabby?" Kagome dipped a bit of cloth into the milk and let the baby suck on it.   
  
"Feh."  
  
Inuyasha stayed quiet and still, staring off into the woods. He stayed lost in his own thoughts, especially when the baby quieted down. But when the girls began admiring the now-calm child, he started to look back over his shoulder.   
  
"Isn't he so cute?" Kagome was saying, tickling the baby's chin. She was rewarded with a lopsided, toothless smile.   
  
"Look at his ears," Sango was cooing, rumpling the baby's crumpled dog ears. He batted at her hand with a tiny fist.  
  
"Do you know what those cute little ears mean?" Inuyasha shouted, jumping up. "Those cute little ears mean he's gonna be alone for the rest of his life. Those cute little ears mean he's gonna be blamed for anything that goes wrong. And they mean that no matter what he's like, NOBODY is gonna want him around."  
  
Then he turned and jumped up into the trees.  
  
Sango stayed quiet for awhile, watching Inuyasha climb higher and higher. Then, "Is he talking about the baby or himself?" she whispered.  
  
"I can't tell," Kagome said quietly, patting the baby's back.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	9. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE  
  
*  
  
Against Inuyasha's wishes, Kagome slipped back into the village the next morning. "I need to get something to carry the baby in, Inuyasha!" she argued as she slipped on her shoes. "My elbows are going to lock if I don't get to put him down occasionally. With some sort of baby sling or something, I can have my hands free."  
  
"Can't we get one in the NEXT village?" Inuyasha demanded.  
  
"We don't even know when the next village is coming up," Kagome retorted.  
  
"I'm not going to-"  
  
"SIT!"  
  
Kagome felt the baby wriggle in her arms as Inuyasha slammed into the ground. A wide, toothless grin spread over the tiny face as the growling boy stood up. "I think he thinks it's funny," she said, joggling the baby over her shoulder. Inuyasha gave her a baleful look, then turned and stalked away.  
  
Inuyasha was still sulking when she left, with Miroku and Sango beside her. The baby was napping by the fire, still wrapped in the blanket they had found him in. As they left the camp, Kagome looked back at the tiny face, the closed golden eyes and little puppy ears.  
  
He looks so much like Inuyasha, she thought for the hundredth time. The older half-demon was sitting on the opposite side of the fire, staring at the flames. His hands were twisting a stick, pulling it apart and breaking the pieces. His eyes saw nothing.  
  
She had relatively little trouble buying a baby carrier in the village, sort of a woven thing made of cloth and willow branches. The old woman glanced over Kagome and offered a gap-toothed grin. "You don't look like you have a baby, dearie," she said.  
  
"I don't," Kagome said. "I'm not buying this for me -- it's for my friends." She jerked her thumb back at Miroku and Sango, trying to hold back a smile. "They're gonna need it soon, if you know what I mean."  
  
Sango looked shocked. Miroku merely looked thoughtful.  
  
*  
  
"What are we going to do with him?" Sango asked.  
  
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, looking up from the roasting fish.   
  
"No, the baby," Miroku said patiently. "Some sort of decision must be made when we return to the village. I'm sure Kaede could find someone to look after the child, if it came down to that."  
  
Kagome frowned. If they had found just any baby, she might have agreed... "But shouldn't we try to find the father?" she asked. The baby, still strapped in his carrier, was squirming and whining softly; she took him out and cuddled him close to her.   
  
"We don't know where he is, or even who he is," Miroku said. He slid a fish from its stick and nibbled it experimentally. "Besides, it would take quite some time to track him down, even if we learn his identity. I don't think it's a good idea to have the child near Inuyasha for much longer."  
  
Kagome looked over her shoulder at the red blotch under the trees, almost invisible in the dark. Inuyasha was staying away from the others at night, and was quiet during the day. Her gaze strayed down to the tiny baby clinging to her blouse, looking around at the others with wide eyes. "Sango," she said quietly, "can you take him for a little while?"  
  
Once she had given the child to Sango, Kagome slipped away from the firelight. "Inuyasha?" she called quietly.  
  
Inuyasha mumbled something under his breath and looked away.   
  
Kagome sat down at his side and stared back at the fire, with her chin resting on her knees. "So, howya doin'?" she asked casually.   
  
"Feh."  
  
"Inuyasha, could you please talk to me instead of grunting and mumbling all the time?"  
  
"Go away."  
  
Kagome stayed where she was, watching the firelight dancing and flickering on his face and hair. "Inuyasha," she said quietly. "Look, I... I know how you're feeling right now. That baby probably brought back a lot of rotten memories about when you were... you know, little. And those rotten villagers must've made it even worse."  
  
Inuyasha's shoulders hunched over. His pale golden eyes were almost closed, but Kagome thought she saw the expression in them.   
  
She put a hand on his shoulder. "But Inuyasha... getting all weird and hostile toward the baby won't make the past go away," she said softly. "It's not gonna help things for you. It won't make you stop hurting. And all you're gonna do is make a little lost kid have one less person to depend on."  
  
Inuyasha got up suddenly and walked away, still silent. This time, Kagome did not go after him.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	10. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN  
  
*  
  
The embers were dying. Glancing out at the dark woods, Inuyasha picked up a stick and stoked the fire back to life.   
  
The soft breathing of his friends soothed his frayed nerves. Miroku and Sango were snoozing under separate trees. Kagome had opted to sleep away from her best friend, since she didn't want the baby's crying to disturb Sango. She was curled up in her sleeping bag, with her head resting on her arm. The baby was cuddled up against her, and Shippo was snoring loudly on top of her shoulder.  
  
Inuyasha watched her face, thinking of how she had tried to comfort him. But he didn't want to be comforted. He wanted to do what he had always done -- hide his pain and wait for it to either fade, or sink into his soul.  
  
Kagome couldn't understand, he thought darkly. She couldn't understand the memories that baby's face brought back to him. Memories of when he had been that innocent, that trusting. He'd been a child once. But he had grown up fast -- humans had stoned him, spat on him, beaten him with staffs. At first the pain had been as much of his mind than his body. The bruises and cuts had healed in a day or so. But he couldn't forget the burning disgust in their eyes as they had hit him, or the words that came from their lips as they drove him out. What had been worst was that they meant everything they said and did -- he disgusted them, repulsed them.  
  
And looking at the baby's face brought back all the memories of how he had been. And, he thought darkly, the thought of what was ahead of that kid. Even if they found the father -- which wasn't likely -- the kid would always be an outsider. Nobody would know what he went through. His mother would have been the one to comfort him and protect him, but she was dead. Like Inuyasha's own mother.  
  
A faint, puppylike whimper made Inuyasha look up.  
  
He tried to ignore the sound, but it persisted, growing more desperate. Kagome stirred in her sleep, her eyelids fluttering.  
  
Inuyasha crept closer to her. The baby was awake, and was clawing at Kagome's hand with his baby talons, trying to get her attention. His whimpers were too soft to disturb sleeping humans, but Inuyasha heard it keenly. And for some reason, he wanted the noises to stop.  
  
Awkwardly, he worked his clumsy hands under the baby's tiny body, easing it from Kagome's sleeping grasp. It felt fragile and loosely put together, as if handling it to roughly might break it apart. The baby himself was staring at Inuyasha with wide eyes, sucking on his tiny fist. Something tugged in Inuyasha's chest, as if a string tied to his heart had been yanked unexpectedly.   
  
He awkwardly shifted the baby into the crook of his elbow, the way he had seen Kagome do. The little dog-eared child had stopped his whimpering, and now seemed content to snuggle against Inuyasha's chest. One tiny hand grabbed Inuyasha's finger and tried to direct it to the fangless mouth.  
  
Inuyasha sighed. He hadn't ever really thought much about babies -- after all, no one had ever wanted him. Until he had met Kikyo, no girl had seen him as a boy -- just a demon monstrosity who resembled one. When he had met Kikyo, he allowed himself to dream for a little while of a life and a family.... but those dreams had shattered the day Naraku turned them against one another. But, in the months since Kagome had freed him, he sometimes had those dreams again...  
  
Inuyasha stared at the baby's face. "Man, I do not need this," he said out loud.   
  
The baby yawned and continued its intent scrutiny of his face.   
  
Inuyasha sighed and sank back against the tree. "You don't know what's gonna be ahead of you, do you?" he said to the baby. "Not a clue. I used to be that way too."  
  
He moved the baby closer to him, as if the villagers were lurking somewhere in the darkness. "You don't know it now. You're too little to know. But... you're different from other people. Demons and humans both." A flinty look came into his eyes. "They'll treat you like dirt, for something you can't help -- like you don't have a soul. If they have a bad harvest, they'll claim you angered the gods or something. If somebody gets killed, they'll say the demon did it. It's always your fault when you're a halfbreed.  
  
"Lotsa people claim that they're good because they take care of orphans, or they sweep out shrines. Then they see a halfbreed and try to pelt him with rocks or burn him alive." Inuyasha snorted. "Bastards, all of 'em. Self-righteous bastards. Like the ones who shot your mother..." He growled softly. "You won't even remember her when you're older... thanks to them."  
  
The baby fussed a little at the growing anger in his voice. Inuyasha began awkwardly rocking the child, the way he had seen women do with their babies. "I was like you once," he said quietly. "I was alone. Nobody I could depend on. Nobody I trusted. Nobody I could even talk to. After awhile, I started scarin' people for fun, because that was all I could do. Until I... met Kagome, I didn't trust anybody. Truth was... I hated it, but it was all I knew. I thought being alone was just how I was."  
  
Inuyasha fell silent, something strange passing through his eyes. He sighed deeply. "It doesn't have to be that way for you," he said, rocking the baby again. "You don't have to be lonely the way I was. I know what you'll feel, and how it'll hurt. But the difference between you'n'me is you'll have somebody to go to. I won't let you be alone."  
  
Inuyasha's face was turned down toward the baby's, watching the golden eyes starting to close. "I promise," he said quietly.  
  
He didn't see Kagome lying in her sleeping bag, with tears in her eyes. "Inuyasha..." she whispered.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	11. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
*  
  
"Should we wake them up?" Sango whispered.  
  
"No, let's let them sleep a little while," Kagome whispered back, behind her hand. "Oh, it's so sweet..."  
  
"Don't let Inuyasha hear you say that," Miroku murmured. "But they do seem to be quite deeply asleep. Not to mention that they are rather closer than they were yesterday, aren't they?"  
  
Inuyasha was sitting where he had been all that night, with his head bowed in sleep. Tucked under one arm was the Tetsusaiga. And snuggled in the other was the dog-eared baby, who was sucking on Inuyasha's fingertip. The baby yawned and blinked large golden eyes at Kagome and the others. Then he started to fuss.  
  
Inuyasha started and looked up at the four people watching him. "What are you all starin' at?" he demanded belligerently. Before anyone could answer, he stood smoothly and stalked off, still with the baby in his arms.   
  
"Now what's wrong with him?" Shippo asked, rubbing his green eyes.  
  
Kagome smiled softly, watching Inuyasha jumping up into a tree with the little bundle in his arms. "I think he's just gotten over a little of his old unhappiness," she said.  
  
*  
  
Inuyasha insisted on carrying the baby that day, keeping the tiny child cradled in one arm until Kagome insisted that he use the baby carrier she had purchased. Even then, he announced that he was going to wear it on his back, not his chest. "But it's supposed to be facing front," Kagome argued.  
  
"If I have to fight a battle, I don't want him getting in the way of my arms," Inuyasha retorted. "Put it on my back."  
  
"If you have to fight a battle, you're gonna put down the baby first."  
  
"Feh."  
  
They travelled over the familiar green fields and forests near Kaede's village. As they walked, Kagome kept watching Inuyasha. His words from the previous night kept returning to her mind, the promises he had made the baby who could not yet understand them. She hadn't seen his face, but she could imagine how he had looked as he spoke to the child about his life, and about how the baby's own life would be different.  
  
He'd be totally embarrassed if he knew I heard, she thought.  
  
Come to think of it, Kagome had never seen Inuyasha with a baby before. Not just because very few mothers would be willing to let a half-demon near their baby, but because he just didn't seem interested. Yet he handled this baby like it was some extremely fragile, breakable, precious thing that he didn't want to put down for fear it would be lost.   
  
"Shouldn't we call the baby something?" Sango suddenly spoke up. "We can hardly keep calling it 'the baby,' 'the child,' and so on. He needs a name."  
  
"Hmm," Miroku murmured, rubbing his chin. "An interesting idea. I've thought of many names for possible children, but nothing really fits this baby."  
  
Sango gave him a blistering look.  
  
"Let's call it Inuyasha Junior," Shippo offered.  
  
"Would you SHUT UP?" Inuyasha snapped, wheeling around to Shippo. "We aren't gonna give him a name until we know whether or not we can find the father."  
  
"Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the father is Sesshoumaru," Miroku said slowly. "Just assume that somehow he became involved with a human. What would we do then?"  
  
"Shut up," Inuyasha repeated. "We're gonna decide what to do when we know who the father is. Not before. Got that?" He turned and began walking quickly down the road, with the baby peeking curiously over his shoulder.  
  
"Inuyasha seems much more protective of the child today," Sango whispered to Kagome. "I wonder what caused this change. He's also being kind of bossy about it, as if he were in charge of it."  
  
"Mm-hm," Kagome agreed absently. "If I didn't know better, I'd think he had adopted the baby."  
  
Kagome smiled suddenly. They had been planning to show Kaede the baby ever since deciding to return to her village. After all, she would know better than they how to deal with this problem. But now Kagome wondered, How is she going to react when she sees a baby Inuyasha?  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	12. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
*  
  
"Kaede?"  
  
The old priestess looked up at the sound of Kagome's voice. The girl stepped into the hut, wringing her hands. She looked rather uneasy, as if she were thinking of something unpleasant she hadn't yet said. Kaede set down the herbs she had been drying. "Kagome, is anything amiss? We had not expected ye to return for many days yet..."  
  
"Uh, yeah, neither did I," Kagome said uneasily. "But we ran into a little problem and we, um, needed your advice."  
  
"What sort of problem?" Kaede frowned.  
  
"Look, um," Kagome said hesitantly. "Inuyasha will be here in a minute and... please don't just to any conclusions about him, okay?"  
  
Kaede began to ask further, when the tattered hanging over her door was pushed aside. Inuyasha strode in with a dark scowl on his face. What surprised Kaede was the reed contraption on his back. A baby's face was peeking out of it -- a demon baby. What was even more noticeable: a demon baby with silver hair, golden eyes and dog ears.  
  
Kaede sighed. She had had many years of experience keeping her face expressionless when dealing with other people's problems. But seeing Inuyasha walk in with a little dog-eared child that looked exactly like him.... well, it was testing her limits.  
  
I am growing too old for this, she thought.   
  
"What's the matter?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha sat down beside her.  
  
"Those guys were starin' at me," Inuyasha growled, taking the baby off his back. The child yawned, and Kaede was glad to see that he didn't have fangs. Yet. She sighed again.  
  
"Well, sure they were," Kagome said, tickling the baby's ears. "How many guys in this era do you see carrying a baby around on their backs?"  
  
"Right, that must be it," Inuyasha said acidly.   
  
Kaede looked carefully at the baby. Inuyasha had tucked the child in the crook of his elbow, as if he were used to having it near him. And the little demon child, who looked no more than a few weeks old, was giving Inuyasha's long silver hair a few experimental tugs.  
  
"May I ask ye," she said slowly, "how ye came to have this child?"  
  
"It's not mine!" Inuyasha said loudly.  
  
"I did not say it was," Kaede said slowly. "Yet ye are bringing a young baby with ye, and it seems to resemble ye. There seems to be a story behind this, is there not?"  
  
"Well, it's not mine," Inuyasha repeated, joggling the baby.  
  
"Just pipe down, will you?" Kagome said.  
  
The schoolgirl gave a rather disjointed explanation about how she and Miroku had found the child, and the discoveries they had made about its mother and its mysterious father. Inuyasha avoided looking at Kaede while the story was being told. She smiled a little. Ah, so Inuyasha has taken the little one under his wing, she thought.   
  
"... and so we don't know who the dad is, and so we came back here to ask you what you thought," Kagome finished in a rush. "Not to mention that Inuyasha hasn't put the baby down in two days, except when he wants me to change it. So I need to get a few things from my time."  
  
Kaede frowned. "Tis a difficult situation, aye."  
  
"What do you think we should do?"  
  
"Well, keeping the child is not truly an option," Kaede said. "Ye spend your days hunting Naraku, and taking a child into such danger would be... unwise."  
  
"I know that. I said that all along. Don't you think I know that?" Inuyasha snapped.  
  
"Perhaps ye might leave it in the village. If I might find a family which could take in-"  
  
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Instantly Inuyasha was on his feet, clutching the baby protectively to his chest. The child started fussing, upset by the sudden noise. "There's no way I'm leavin' this kid with anyone except his father. He stays with me until we find where he belongs!" He darted out the door, with the sound of unhappy whining trailing after him. Kagome stared after him, looking mildly stunned.  
  
"Tis as I thought," Kaede sighed. She tossed a few of the dried herbs into the fire, and a spicy smell rose from the flames.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	13. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Tis a strange story," Kaede said, frowning.  
  
Inuyasha made a garbled "feh" noise under his breath. Kagome elbowed him in the ribs. It had taken her awhile to convince him to come back into Kaede's house. Now he was crouched by her side, sulking, with his hands folded into his baggy sleeves. The baby was lying on the floor in front of him, apparently trying to wad his little fist into his mouth.  
  
"And ye say that they did not know the father's name?" Kaede continued.  
  
"That's right," Miroku said. "All they knew was that he was a dog-demon who visited the women many months ago. He may not have even known about the child's existence." The monk leaned back and frowned. "I spoke with some of the villagers. The mother tried to keep the child's existence a secret -- or rather, she tried to keep its half-demon heritage secret. But when one lady uncovered the secret, they fatally wounded the mother. She managed to stagger to a nearby shrine, and died there. Kagome and I found the baby... and well, the rest you know."  
  
Inuyasha was making a low growling noise, staring at the wall.  
  
"Are ye well, Inuyasha?" Kaede said in a low, measured voice.  
  
Inuyasha hunched down over the baby and didn't answer. Kagome put a hand on his arm, but didn't speak. The baby whimpered and clutched at a few strands of Inuyasha's long white hair.  
  
"Inuyasha," Kaede said slowly, "ye know nothing of who the father might be?"  
  
"Nothin' at all."  
  
"You don't know anyone?" Sango asked, surprised.  
  
"Why would I?" Inuyasha said, sitting back. "Only member of my family I really see is Sesshomaru. I don't exactly know everybody I'm related to on a first name basis."  
  
There was another long moment of silence, where everyone looked down at the squirming, puppy-eared child on the floor. Kirara had slipped in and was diligently washing the baby's little face and arms. She paused, as if checking him for more dirt, then began licking his fists.  
  
"He resembles ye, Inuyasha," Kaede finally said.  
  
"It's been mentioned," Inuyasha said sourly.  
  
"And more than sixty years have elapsed since the death of ye father," Kaede continued pensively. "So he might not be a brother. Might he then be... a nephew?"  
  
Inuyasha snorted derisively. "Right, like Sesshomaru would ever do THAT with a human wench."  
  
"Still, it isn't wise to discount any possibilities, Inuyasha," Miroku said thoughtfully. "We know that the baby isn't Inuyasha's, and it can't be a half brother. But at the same time, you only need to look at them to tell that there is some kind of kinship between them." He reached out and flicked the baby's ear. "Inuyasha, would Myoga know anything about your extended family."  
  
Inuyasha blinked. "He might. But I haven't seen the little wuss for awhile now."  
  
"It might be worth pursuing." Kaede picked the baby up carefully, despite Kirara's protests. "Yet this too should be considered... would a demon who abandoned his lover and child be a fit kind of father, Inuyasha?"  
  
"Better than taking him into battles with Naraku," Inuyasha said in a low voice. "If he... if it weren't for Naraku, then maybe..." He looked away quickly, flushing. "Doesn't matter, anyway. If he isn't a good enough father, I'll thrash him until he is."  
  
"That was not quite what I meant," Kaede said dryly. She carefully placed the squirming baby in Inuyasha's arms. "Ye have undertaken responsibility for him now, until ye can find his father. See that ye live up to that, because I know ye are able..."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	14. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Hey, Inuyasha?" Shippo said, peeking over Inuyasha's elbow at the baby.  
  
"Yeah, what?"  
  
"Can I hold the baby?"  
  
Inuyasha glanced down at the squirming baby in his arms. Then he sized up the tiny kitsune standing expectantly in front of him. "No," he said firmly.  
  
"Why not?" Shippo asked indignantly.   
  
"Cause he's BIGGER'n you."  
  
"Am not!" Shippo insisted. Without saying a word, Inuyasha held out the baby beside Shippo, resting the little curled feet on the floor. The kitsune stared at the baby for a moment, then added, "He's not a lot bigger, right?"  
  
"Feh," Inuyasha snorted. He pulled the baby back and cuddled it against his chest, wondering when Kagome was going to get back. She had gone through the well to get what she called "essentials in babysitting." Diapers, something called formula, bottles, and other things for a baby. Inuyasha had to assume that she knew what she was doing -- he knew next to nothing about taking care of babies. They were little and helpless, they cried and had to be fed. That was about it.  
  
He kept it hidden, but Kaede's words had made him uneasy. Responsible? he thought. How am I supposed to take care of a baby and hunt down Naraku? How the hell did I become responsible for the kid? Why'm I more responsible than Miroku or Sango or Kagome?  
  
The baby fussed a little, and Inuyasha absently stuck his finger in the little half-demon's mouth.  
  
And how the hell am I supposed to explain the whelp to... to anyone we meet? he thought. Koga and Kikyo were two of the people he worried about. if Koga put one finger on the baby, Inuyasha would string him up with his own tail, even if Kagome did like him. And how was he supposed to explain the baby to Kikyo? His former love's thoughts were still a complete mystery to him, unless she chose to tell him. What was she going to think when she saw him next, with a little dog-eared baby cuddled in his arms? Probably the wrong thing...  
  
"You're making my life real complicated," he said to the baby. The child just stared at him with round golden eyes.  
  
Miroku surfaced from his talk with Sango long enough to say, "Well, if you allowed a family in this village to take care of him-"  
  
"Keep sayin' that, and somebody is gonna get his hand stuffed down his throat," Inuyasha said tensely. "This baby isn't going to stay with anyone except his family. No way am I leavin' him alone."  
  
He remained cuddling the baby until he heard the sound of Kagome's bike outside. When she came in, she had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She called, "I'm back! I got the things I needed... but from the way that clerk was staring, I know I can't go back to that store ever again." She pulled the bag open. "Disposable diapers, bottles, formula, and I got a book on baby care."  
  
Inuyasha stared at the book cover. "This is for human babies."  
  
"Excuse me, they didn't have one for demon babies," Kagome said, plucking the book from his hand. She began digging through the bag again. "Let's see, baby powder, a little cap in case it gets cold, some more blankets..."  
  
"Just how much do whelps need?" Inuyasha demanded.  
  
"They need a lot when they're little," Kagome said loftily. Suddenly she smiled. "And I found something else on the way back here, too."  
  
"What's that?" Inuyasha asked. He lifted the baby  
  
"Lord Inuyasha!" A tiny moving dot bounced from somewhere in Kagome's dark hair. It was a tiny gray-haired demon flea; he landed on Inuyasha's shoulder.  
  
Inuyasha sighed. "Myoga?"  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	15. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
  
*  
  
Myoga launched himself at Inuyasha's face, with his four tiny arms outspread. "My lord, how I have longed to see you again!"   
  
There was a loud slurping sound, and Inuyasha suddenly slapped his nose. "Don't you ever quit?" he growled. The flattened Myoga fluttered to the ground, making soft groaning noises. The baby blinked and pawed at him, and the flea only narrowly escaped being squashed a second time.   
  
"Oh, I do hate that," Myoga muttered. Then he squinted down at the baby's face, and his tone turned to one of pride. "Lord Inuyasha! What a magnificent little child."  
  
"Yeah, ain't he," Inuyasha said with a hint of sourness.  
  
"I can certainly see the resemblance. He looks just as you did at that age." Ignoring the faint growls that were building up, Myoga continued prattling, "I remember it as if it were only yesterday. The ears, the eyes -- oh yes, he's the spitting image. It is a boy, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah," Inuyasha said tightly.  
  
"I thought so," Myoga said with satisfaction. "You must be quite proud, milord!"  
  
"Proud of what?" Inuyasha snapped. "He ain't my kid."  
  
Myoga drew back slightly, shocked. "Lord Inuyasha... really, you must be willing to accept the consequences of your actions. Did I teach you to shirk responsibility like that?" he asked, sounding sorrowful.  
  
"Wait a minute," Kagome said, recognizing a telltale twitch in Inuyasha's face. "Uh, Myoga, Inuyasha is telling the truth -- the baby isn't his."  
  
"Not his?" Myoga glanced down at the baby's face. "How very curious. Then whose is it, may I ask?"  
  
Kagome recounted the story of how they had found the baby, and were fairly sure that the baby was somehow related to Inuyasha -- although definitely not his child. "We were hoping you might know who the father is and where we could find him," she finished. "Can you think of anyone who might have had an affair with a human woman in the last year?"  
  
"Hmmm," Myoga said, pondering the question. "I'm not familiar with every part of Lord Inuyasha's family. That would take more time and research on my part. I could do it, but it would take some days."  
  
"How about one to start with, huh?" Inuyasha said, joggling the fussing baby.  
  
Myoga thought it over for a few more minutes, before finally, "There is one somewhat less powerful relation of yours whose consort was killed a few years ago. Perhaps, in his grief, he sought comfort... elsewhere," he finished delicately. "And this little child was the result."  
  
"Sounds as good as anything else," Inuyasha said grimly. "We'll go in the morning."  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're not supporting the baby enough. Put your other hand under his bottom." Kagome mimed what she wanted him to do.  
  
Inuyasha obeyed, shifting the baby's sagging little body higher on his shoulder, then winced. A look of almost comical alarm came over his face. "Kagome..." he said faintly.  
  
"Does somebody need to be changed?" Kagome asked rhetorically. She carefully took the baby from Inuyasha and broke open the package of diapers. The baby whined and clutched at Inuyasha's hand, sticking his fingers into his mouth and slurping hard on them.  
  
"Milord," Myoga said, hopping onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "I'll give you instructions on how to find the stronghold of the dog-demon you are looking for. Then I will go out myself to find out about other possibilities -- other dog-demons who might have fathered a half-human child."  
  
The baby suddenly chomped down hard on Inuyasha's fingers -- and a bloodcurdling howl echoed through the small cottage. The baby followed up with a frightened wail that only stopped when Kagome picked him up and started cuddling him.  
  
"Oh my," Myoga said proudly. He watched Inuyasha clutching at his fingers, making a muffled whimpering noise. "I see his first fangs are coming in."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	16. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
  
*  
  
The next morning was cold and gray. When Kagome came out of Kaede's cottage, she found Inuyasha in a heated argument with Myoga and Miroku at the same time. "If you even think about biting the whelp, I'll squash you so hard you won't pop back for a month," he snapped at the flea.  
  
"Lord Inuyasha-" Myoga was spluttering.   
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"All I'm saying is that I enjoyed it when I was little," Miroku said, crossing his arms.  
  
"Not THIS little," Inuyasha said curtly. "I'm not throwin' him up in the air, and that's that."  
  
Kagome picked up the baby, who still looked groggy and a little fussy. She carefully pulled on a little pilot cap she had bought in her own time. After considering carefully, she had cut little holes for the baby's ears. He blinked at her as she tied it under his chin, then yawned. I REALLY want to play with his ears, Kagome thought.   
  
"You find out everything you can about other demons who might be the whelp's father," Inuyasha was saying. "Including Sesshomaru, although I'll bite off my own fingers if he turns out to be it. If this guy ain't the father, we'll be back in a few days -- and I want you waiting for me when I get back."  
  
"Very well, milord," Myoga said gravely. "I'll do my best." The flea hopped off and into the bushes.  
  
"Let's go, Kagome," Inuyasha said. He shouldered the baby carrier, and let Kagome put the whimpering baby inside. Then he glanced at the bulging bag she was carrying. "What is all that stuff? Do you need ALL of it?"  
  
"Yes, I need all of it," Kagome said. "Although maybe you should carry it at times, and I'll carry the baby."  
  
"Not likely," Inuyasha grunted.   
  
"By the way," Kagome added, "do you want to go first or should I?"  
  
Inuyasha stared at her. "First?"  
  
"First with the feedings."  
  
"Feedings?"  
  
"You're going to handle half of them," Kagome said, holding out a colorful plastic bottle. "I'll show you how."  
  
*  
  
The baby slept through most of the day, which Kagome was grateful for. Inuyasha was somehow managing to balance her and the baby on his back. Shippo clung to the back of the baby carrier. "How come he can sleep through all this jumping around?" the fox asked.  
  
"I guess he's getting used to the way Inuyasha moves," Kagome said.  
  
Kirara bounded past them with Miroku and Sango on her back. They were approaching the winding river bordering the mountains; at the peak of one of those mountains was the demon's castle. Kagome watched uneasily as the clouds blew over the mountain peaks, hiding whatever was up there from sight. I wonder what this relative of Inuyasha's is like, she thought.   
  
"A storm is brewing," Miroku said.  
  
"So?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"So," the monk said, "we should make camp for the night. It wouldn't be safe to scale the mountain if a storm were to strike."  
  
"Feh. We've gotten through worse," Inuyasha snorted.  
  
"WE have. But the baby hasn't," Miroku retorted sternly. "You wouldn't want to expose him to the wind and rain, would you? And don't assume that he can handle it. He may be a demon, but he's still only a baby."  
  
"And what do YOU know about demon babies?" Inuyasha demanded.   
  
Five minutes later, they were setting up camp. Miroku struck up some sparks on the damp wood; Sango and Shippo departed to the river to catch some fish. Kagome paused in her wood-gathering, and glanced over at Inuyasha. He was curled up under a tree, with the baby nestled against his shoulder. The baby was blinking sleepily. His little pointed ears twitched slightly.  
  
A thought struck Kagome. If we find the father, she thought, how is Inuyasha going to feel if he has to give up the baby?  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	17. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Why the hell won't he SHUT UP?" Inuyasha almost bellowed.  
  
The only effect his demand had was to make the baby howl louder, right in Kagome's ear. His shrill shrieks had been echoing through the darkened woods for hours now like a siren.   
  
Shippo floated past as as a walleyed pink bubble. "Goo gah!" he said cheerfully. "Wanna play some ball? I bounce!"  
  
The baby looked briefly at Shippo. Then his little reddened face crumpled into another wail. Kagome joggled him gently against her shoulder, hoping that he would show some signs of going to sleep. Her eyes felt like they were full of sand, and her shoulder was sore from the little clawed fists that had been pounding it for as long as she had been holding him.  
  
Miroku and Sango were sitting nearby, having given up on sleeping. "I see he has Inuyasha's lungs as well as his ears," Miroku said, not quite sotto voce. Kagome almost told him to be quiet, but the demon-slayer and monk were handling the sleep deprivation fairly well. Except for that argument they had had earlier, where Sango claimed that Miroku had been jealous when they thought the baby was Inuyasha's...  
  
"Gawaaabboooo!" Shippo gurgled. He floated over the baby, turning red to yellow to electric blue.   
  
"Aw, dammit," Inuyasha groaned. He pressed his hands over his drooping dog ears. "Why won't he SHUT UP?!"  
  
"He doesn't feel well, Inuyasha," Kagome said loudly. "His stomach hurts."  
  
"Don't that book of yours have anything for it?" Inuyasha demanded.  
  
Kagome dumped the baby in his lap and began flipping through her book. "Let's see -- dietary changes, stomach discomfort... I think he has colic," she announced.  
  
"Great. What do we do? How do we stop it?" Inuyasha shouted over the baby's wails.  
  
"We can't."  
  
"Whaddaya MEAN, we can't?!"  
  
"We have to wait for it to go away," Kagome said. She took the baby back from Inuyasha and joggled him against her shoulder. She rubbed his little stomach, which caused the cries to stop... for about ten seconds. She was starting to feel really ticked off at the baby, who wouldn't calm down and wouldn't shut up. But then she saw his little face, tearstained and flushed. He was looking at her in the same way Inuyasha did, when something was really upsetting him. And Kagome felt a little tug in her heart for the poor little motherless half-demon baby...  
  
The difference was that Inuyasha didn't scream his lungs out whenever he was worried.   
  
"Please, please, please shut up," Kagome mumbled, joggling the baby against her shoulder.  
  
"I knew we should have left him at the village," Miroku muttered.  
  
"YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME, MONK?" Inuyasha shouted. Then he looked somewhat startled, as the baby's cries got louder.  
  
"Sit down, Inuyasha," Miroku said calmly. "You're upsetting your baby."  
  
"HE IS NOT MY BABY, DAMN YOU!"  
  
"The more upset you get, the more upset HE'LL get," Miroku added, tossing a log into the fire. "So why don't you try to be quieter until his stomach improves."  
  
"Feh!" Inuyasha said. He crouched by the fire and watched Kagome walk by again. The baby's cries were hurting his ears. Not just because the whelp was LOUD, but because... nobody could really comfort him. Even Kagome, who was the next best thing to his mother, couldn't help him. And over the hours, the baby's cries had become more hopeless, like a little lost creature wandering in the woods.  
  
Dammit, he thought. I can't keep the baby. It isn't safe. If Naraku got news about it, he'd try to take the baby, or hurt it, to harm me. That bastard doesn't care about the helpless. He'd harm the baby in a heartbeat, and I might not be able to protect everyone...  
  
He sat back and sighed. And even if it weren't for Naraku... dammit, I don't know anything about babies. I didn't even know how to feed him with those bottles Kagome brought.  
  
"You're doing an awful lot of sighing," Shippo commented. "Does your stomach hurt now?"  
  
"Shaddup."  
  
*  
  
The baby stopped howling and went to sleep sometime in the dead of night. The next morning, Kagome could barely keep her eyes open. I can't understand how Mom did this, she thought, yawning.  
  
Inuyasha was just as tired, but determined to get to the summit. The sooner they found this relation of his, the sooner they could rest. And possibly, hand off the baby to somebody who didn't spend every day in danger.   
  
"There it is!" Sango shouted.  
  
The clouds parted to reveal a majestic castle near the peak of the mountain. It was half-built, half-carved into the stone. Snarling, gargoyle-like statues sprouted from the cliffsides. Their eyes really glowed. Kagome got the chills just looking at them -- which was probably the intent.  
  
"In we go!" Inuyasha leaped up toward the doorway.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	18. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
  
*  
  
The group landed on a wide, sweeping plateau veiled in fog. Kagome glanced around at the snarling statues and their glowing eyes. What kind of person was this relative of Inuyasha's? If he was anything like Sesshomaru, they would never convince him to take the baby, and Inuyasha wouldn't even try. The castle itself was dark and uninviting. Cold... and there was something a little weird about it...  
  
"Do you notice something odd, Inuyasha?" Miroku said quietly.  
  
"Yeah. No guards," Inuyasha grunted. He handed the baby to Kagome, then drew Tetsusaiga. "Stay behind me, Kagome."  
  
"Okay..." Kagome hugged the baby and stepped behind the half-demon.  
  
Inuyasha lunged toward the gates and smashed them to splinters. Then he fell back alongside Miroku and Sango, waiting for something to emerge from the dark courtyard. Only a cold wind did. After a moment, Inuyasha straightened and growled softly. "Nothing," he mumbled.   
  
"Could he have moved?" Shippo asked.  
  
"I doubt it," Miroku said. "On the other hand, I'm not sure what happened... he might simply be hiding away. We know nothing of his personality."  
  
"Stay close to me," Inuyasha said to Kagome.  
  
The courtyard led to a wide-open doorway. The screens were a bit decayed, and there were scuff marks on the floorboards. Inuyasha sniffed the air. "Nothing," he said. "At least, nothing in this place, recently."  
  
He moved into one of the darkened corridors, with Tetsusaiga raised in front of him. Kagome followed him closely, clutching the baby close to her. The little half-demon was peering over her shoulder with wide eyes; his little clawed fingers were digging into her shoulder. Absently, she stroked his little ears to calm him.  
  
"Hello?" Inuyasha shouted. "Anyone?"  
  
His own echo was the only response he got.   
  
"Is that a good idea?" Kagome whispered.  
  
"We're here to find whoever lives here, right?" Inuyasha said philosophically. "No reason to act all timid."  
  
"But what if he doesn't live here anymore? I mean, what if some other demon does?"  
  
"Then I'll deal with 'em."   
  
Kagome didn't feel quite that confident. Especially since if Inuyasha needs help, I can't put the baby down to shoot at... well, anything, she thought.  
  
Inuyasha glanced into an adjoining room and sighed. He sheathed Tetsusaiga. "I found him," he said heavily.  
  
"What?" Kagome said hesitantly.  
  
Inuyasha was standing in front of a jumble of bones that looked vaguely like a human body, except that the teeth were pointed. The ribs were shattered by half a dozen spears. The bones were tangled, as if the demon had been trying to escape when he was killed. "Is that... is that him?" Kagome asked hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah, it is. He was a dog-demon anyway. Poor bastard," Inuyasha said.  
  
Miroku, Shippo and Sango rushed in behind Kagome. They looked somewhat dismayed at the sight of the demon skeleton. "Is that...?" Sango asked. "Well... um, how did he die? Being run through shouldn't have killed him."  
  
"Beats me." Inuyasha yanked out one of the spears. Then he yelped in pain and tossed it away.  
  
Miroku gingerly approached the fallen spear. "Sutras are lacquered on this spear," he said, sounding grim. "That was what killed him. Don't touch them, Inuyasha -- I'll find them all and burn them."  
  
Inuyasha grimaced. There was a red burn on his palm. "Dammit. We went all this way for nothing."  
  
"How long has he been dead?" Shippo piped up.  
  
"At least two years," Inuyasha said glumly. "He hasn't sired any half-demon babies recently. We'll have to keep looking."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	19. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN  
  
*  
  
In his life, Inuyasha had faced more threats than any other demon he knew of. He had battled with ogres the size of trees and cut them down to size. He had faced off against Naraku's vicious offspring, and even against Naraku himself. He had fought his older brother, who was the most powerful demon Inuyasha knew of -- and what was more, Inuyasha had won more than once. He wasn't afraid of any of them.  
  
And now he was scared.  
  
"Relax, Inuyasha, you're doing fine," Kagome said. "Just tilt the bottle up a little."  
  
Inuyasha did as she said, almost yanking the bottle out of the baby's mouth. Kagome had insisted that he give half of the whelp's feedings, and Inuyasha was dutifully doing his best. But he kept wondering if he was doing it wrong -- the baby kept spitting the formula out, then whining for more. Not to mention holding the whelp in one hand and feeding it with the other. Inuyasha kept wondering if he was going to drop it...  
  
"I was wrong, Inuyasha," Miroku said drowsily. "That baby isn't fragile. He has the stamina of an ox. Look at him -- up half the night, and cheerful today." The monk yawned.   
  
Sango and Shippo were already half-asleep, curled up on the floor, and Miroku looked like he was going to join them soon. Inuyasha was tired from the baby's all-night shriekings, but not that tired. Not yet. He had too many things on his mind to sleep peacefully.  
  
He glanced over at the remains of his relative. Kagome had respectfully covered the broken bones with a worn tapestry, hiding them from view. But it still irked him. They had come all this way on a wild goose chase, only to find that the demon they had hoped was the baby's father was beyond long dead.   
  
He found himself wondering who has killed the guy. Not that their group could do anything about it -- two years ago, Kagome hadn't ventured through the well, and Inuyasha himself had still been pinned to a tree. At least Miroku had burned those spears, Inuyasha thought. He looked down at his burned hand. Normally a demon like him him wouldn't die even when run through by a spear. But the ones with sutras would burn the demon from the inside out. Whoever had killed him was a pretty vicious bastard, he thought.  
  
Inuyasha's thoughts were broken by loud whimpering coming from the baby. He was squirming, with a troubled look on his little face. Inuyasha stuck the bottle back in his mouth, only to have the baby bat it away with a whine. He joggled the child against his shoulder, only to have it whine louder.  
  
Ten minutes later, Inuyasha was frantic. The baby was wailing at the top of his lungs, squirming and kicking at Inuyasha's stomach. Inuyasha tried to stick a bottle in his mouth again, and the baby spat it out with a gurgling squeal. Getting more upset, Inuyasha glanced over the baby's body for any cuts or splinters -- nothing. His diaper didn't need changing.  
  
Dammit, what's wrong? he thought wildly. Why's he still crying?  
  
Suddenly Sango got up and walked over. Without a word she snatched the baby out of Inuyasha's hands and gave him a loud slap on the back. Appalled, Inuyasha nearly erupted with rage there and then... until the baby stopped crying. He had a look of surprise on his flushed, tear-stained little face.   
  
"Next time, try that," Sango said curtly, handing the baby back.  
  
Inuyasha wordlessly took the baby and cuddled it against him. Aside from a case of the hiccups, the whelp seemed fine now; Inuyasha even checked his back to make sure Sango hadn't bruised him.   
  
Kagome came back in, frowning. "Did I hear crying?" she asked.  
  
"The baby needed burping," Sango yawned. "And I could tell Inuyasha didn't know how to handle it."  
  
"All ya had to do was TELL me," Inuyasha snapped. "I could've done it myself."  
  
Kagome took the baby from him and wiped off his little face. "Inuyasha, I think we should go," she whispered.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Because... well, it's very far away, but I thought I sensed a Shikon shard... or maybe more than one."  
  
Inuyasha stiffened. "I'll wake up Miroku and Shippo."  
  
*  
  
The baby began to act strange when the group left the castle. He began making odd snorting noises that sounded like "snerk." Kagome watched with concern as Inuyasha held the baby even tighter. "What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
"He smells somethin' he doesn't like." Inuyasha grimaced. "So do I."  
  
"You know what the smell is?" Kagome asked.  
  
A cold wind whipped Inuyasha's white hair back from his shoulders. "Yup."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Filthy wolves," he said tightly.  
  
Wolves... Koga? Kagome thought.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	20. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY  
  
Damn wimpy wolf! Inuyasha cursed. He skidded down the slope, with the sound of the baby snorting in his ear. This was the LAST thing he needed -- that rotten wolf-demon Koga, with his infatuation for Kagome and the constant stream of insults that he spat out. Normally Inuyasha wouldn't have minded the wolf's taunts too much -- except they were all launched in Kagome's presence.  
  
"Inuyasha," Kagome said, "is the baby supposed to be making those weird noises?"  
  
"It just means he don't like the smell of wolves." Inuyasha smiled slightly as he jumped off the ledge, followed by Kirara. "My kinda kid," he added under his breath.  
  
The baby made that odd "snerk" noise and snuggled against the back of Inuyasha's head.  
  
Kagome shaded her eyes. In the distance, she could see a blur of dust moving across the plain, like a tiny sandstorm. And shining in the middle of it were two jewel shards, like a pair of tiny glowing beacons. "I can see the shards. It's Koga, all right."  
  
"I can smell him from here," Inuyasha grumbled. "Too bad he's probably smelled us too, or else I might be able to lose that ratty wolf."  
  
The baby sneezed loudly.  
  
"What exactly is your problem with him, Inuyasha?" Kagome said. "He's not that bad, really."  
  
"You want the full list, or just the big problems?" Inuyasha snapped. He landed at the foot of the mountain, and let Kagome off. "How's the whelp?"   
  
"Well, he's a little fidgety, but he seems okay," Kagome said, bouncing the baby against her shoulder. "It probably helped that you fed him." She paused, thinking it over as she straightened the baby's blanket. "You're really getting the hang of this baby thing, you know."  
  
She expected Inuyasha to be flattered. Instead he flushed slightly and turned away, as if he didn't want to talk about it. "I meant that as a compliment," Kagome added.   
  
Suddenly the sound of rushing wind reached them. Kagome turned around to see what looked like a miniature tornado rushing across the plains, leaving a swirling cloud of dust behind it. Suddenly the tornado seemed to dissipate, as a dark shape leaped out of it and landed heavily a little distance away. It was a tall young demon, with long black hair and wearing a hodgepodge of armor and wolf pelts. A wide grin crossed his face. "Hey, Kagome. I smelled ya in this area, so I thought I'd--"  
  
His eyes widened as he saw what Kagome was holding. The baby -- who was trying to wad Kagome's long hair in his mouth -- blinked large golden eyes at the wolf-demon. One of his puppy ears twitched.  
  
A dark flush came over Koga's face, and he was glaring at Inuyasha with an expression of pure rage. A low, angry growl came from him. Inuyasha growled softly, stiffening as he waited for that wimpy wolf to make the first move.  
  
But Kagome made it instead. "Hold him," she said, dumping the baby in Inuyasha's arms.  
  
"Wha...?" Inuyasha said, stunned.  
  
"Koga, wait!" Kagome called, running over to the enraged demon. "I know what this looks like, but it isn't. I mean, the baby isn't mine."  
  
"Not... yours?" Koga said, as if he were having trouble absorbing the idea. He stared at the baby in Inuyasha's arms. "He looks just like that whiny whelp. You mean..." He stared at Kagome, horrified. "Kagome..."  
  
"Huh?" Kagome said, confused.  
  
"You're stayin' with that bastard and taking care of his cub, even after he-" Koga said, seizing her hands and clasping them tightly in his calloused ones.  
  
"Um, that's not quite the way it was," Kagome said, flustered. "The baby isn't Inuyasha's either."  
  
"Kagome," Sango called, "I think you'd better move away from Koga... because Inuyasha's head is about to explode..."  
  
Kagome deftly extricated her fingers from Koga's. Behind him, a pair of other wolf-demons staggered up, panting. Hakkaku and Ginta, the extremely tolerant guys who follow Koga everywhere, Kagome thought  
  
Koga inched over to Inuyasha and sniffed. "You're right, Kagome," he said reluctantly. "The cub ain't his. Smells totally different..."  
  
"Why?" Inuyasha said sarcastically. "Would it've bothered you if the baby were hers?"  
  
"Any guy who lays a hand on my woman-"  
  
"WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' YOUR WOMAN!"  
  
The baby snorted and started to cry.  
  
"Not while you're holding the baby," Kagome interjected sternly. "Anyway, we're taking care of the baby right now. He was orphaned, and we found him in the woods. Now we're searching for his father, and in the meantime, Inuyasha and I are taking care of him."  
  
"Poor cub," Koga grunted, crossing his arms. "Now wolves, we don't abandon our cubs-"  
  
"Really, what a surprise," Inuyasha snapped.   
  
This is going to be a long one, Kagome thought. She sighed, waiting for the baby to stop fussing. Maybe Koga can help us out.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	21. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE  
  
.  
  
Kagome had been talking with that mangy, flea-ridden wolf Koga for what seemed like an eternity. Inuyasha watched sullenly, keeping an eye on Koga's hands. Admittedly he didn't grab Kagome the way Miroku grabbed women in general. But he got too friendly whenever she stood near him. Right now he was staring a little too intently at her face as she talked.  
  
"Rotten luck for the cub," he said finally.   
  
"Yeah," Kagome said. She had taken the baby back from Inuyasha, although he was squirming and snorting like crazy. It was getting distracting. "And because we can't take him with us, we have to find the father."  
  
"Hrm," Koga said. Before Kagome could stop him, he had scooped the baby out of her hands and held him over his head. "Looks like the little cub could use a real father. Me, if he were mine, I'd never let-"  
  
The baby made a face and sneezed.  
  
The look of offended shock nearly made Kagome giggle. She pulled the fussing baby away, and glanced back at Inuyasha. His face was flushed, and he looked like he was about to rip Koga's head off. Oh boy. I need to stop this before they do anything more, she thought.  
  
"Koga," she said quickly. "I need to ask you something."  
  
The baby snorted loudly and began to whine.  
  
"Yeah?" Koga said. He still looked a little offput from the baby's rejection of him.   
  
"Do you know of any dog-demons... aside from Inuyasha and his brother?" Kagome asked. "We thought we might have found one up on that mountain, but it turns out he's been dead for a long time."  
  
"Hmm." Koga seemed to ponder it for a moment.  
  
Must be hard to think too hard, if you've got a boulder for a brain, Inuyasha thought scathingly. He inched closer to Kagome and the baby, and ran his hand over the baby's little head. The baby tried to put his thumb in its mouth.  
  
"I can think of one!" Koga said suddenly, breaking through Inuyasha's thoughts.  
  
"Only one?" Kagome asked, disappointed.  
  
"They ain't as common as the wolves," Koga said, crossing his arms. Inuyasha grimaced; he recognized that pose. The filthy wolf was just trying to get Kagome to look at his chest. "There's one to the north of here -- big guy, very nasty temper. Not too different from dog-boy here, except he ain't a halfbreed."  
  
"The baby's half human too," Kagome pointed out rather coldly.   
  
Koga hastily backtracked. "Anyway, I don't know much 'bout him, or if he likes human girls at all. But if dog-boy ain't the father, and you don't think his brother is, then that guy's your best bet."  
  
"Thanks," Kagome said. "We'll look into it."  
  
Koga apparently felt that it was time to try with the baby again. "Cute little cub, ain't he," he said, tapping the baby's clawed fist. "Don't look much like dog-boy over there, except for the ears and hair-" The baby began squirming as Koga patted his head.  
  
"Get your hands off my baby!" Inuyasha shouted, starting forward.  
  
Koga drew back, narrowing his eyes. "YOUR baby," he said slowly. "I thought you said it wasn't yours."  
  
Inuyasha suddenly looked flustered. My... did I say that? he thought. The snarl had just burst out of him without his thinking about it. He growled faintly at Koga, then turned and stalked away. "Touch that whelp again, and I'll make sure you can't have any of your own!" he shouted over his shoulder.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted after him. "Will you calm down for once?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
The baby started to cry.  
  
.  
  
Inuyasha sulked for the next hour or so, while Hakkaku and Ginta looked adoringly at the "cub." The baby squirmed and snorted constantly, making those weird "snerk" noises, and eventually Kagome ordered the two wolf-demons to get far away. Koga was still hanging around, although he seemed a bit nervous about the baby's disgusted reaction to him.  
  
"You take good care of that cub," he was saying, clutching her free hand between both of his. "If ya finally get tired of that mutt, you just let-"  
  
"Why don't you let go of her hand," Inuyasha snarled, punching at Koga's head, "before I rip both of yours off!"  
  
Koga dodged away, and darted across the plains at a speed that Inuyasha couldn't hope to match. He growled faintly, watching as Koga's little lackeys followed him, straggling behind his cloud of dust. "Bastard," he muttered. "Good riddance..."  
  
"You know, it was hard enough getting that information out of him," Kagome said, wiping the baby's nose, "without you exploding every couple of minutes."  
  
"Feh."  
  
"That's what I thought you'd say."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	22. Lost Shadows on the Floor Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO  
  
.  
  
"Does he really need to be in here with us?" Miroku asked wearily.   
  
"YES."  
  
Inuyasha stepped into the hot springs, looking down at the steaming water that was bubbling up to halfway up his thighs. Slowly and very carefully, he sat down in the hot spring, with the water rising to his chest. It's pretty warm, but not too hot, he thought. Just right.  
  
He reached up onto the riverbank and picked up the baby. "Okay, time for you to get in," he grunted. The baby looked a bit uneasy as Inuyasha half-submerged him in the warm water, but then he started kicking his little curled feet at water bugs.   
  
Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha really is domesticated," he muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Inuyasha said sharply.   
  
"Inuyasha, couldn't the girls bathe the baby?"  
  
"They could," Inuyasha said coolly. He splashed some water on the baby's stomach. "But I wanted to do it."  
  
"Because he's your baby, eh?"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"You called it 'my baby.'"  
  
"I did not."  
  
"Yes you did. Even Koga noticed."  
  
The flush on Inuyasha's face could have been the steam or his own embarrassment -- Miroku was pretty sure it was the latter. "So my tongue slipped. Big deal." He began diligently washing the baby off, looking somewhat nervous. Dammit, he thought. Why do they have to be so slippery?  
  
"However," Miroku said suddenly, looking interested, "there is one intriguing thing I have heard about babies."  
  
"Whatzat?"  
  
"I've heard that women find it quite attractive when they see a man caring for a baby. It gives off the impression that he is nurturing and caring-"  
  
"Oh no you don't," Inuyasha said, hugging the squirming baby close to his bare chest. "There is no way you are goin' to corrupt him before he can even walk. You want to pick up women -- find your own baby."  
  
The baby himself was making little pleased squealing noises, and flapping his little arms and legs at the water. Miroku smiled a little at the sight of the happy baby, and Inuyasha nervously trying to bathe it and himself. Then the monk settled back against the mossy bank and relaxed. The only way this could be more pleasant, he thought, would be if one of the girls-  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice echoed through the woods. "Be careful! That water might be too hot for him!"  
  
"It is NOT too hot," Inuyasha bellowed back.   
  
"How can you tell? Babies aren't supposed to be in hot water, so what's fine for YOU might scald HIM!"  
  
"He's fine. He ain't even turning red."  
  
"Inuyasha, maybe I should give him a bath instead!"  
  
"Why? I'm almost done!"  
  
"Because a hot spring is way too hot for a baby!"  
  
"IT IS NOT!"  
  
Miroku sighed heavily and gave up. He wasn't going to get any peace and quiet. Inuyasha and Kagome kept arguing at the top of their lungs for some time, as Inuyasha kept scrubbing the baby.  
  
With a groan, the monk heaved himself out of the hot spring and went over to where his towel and clothes were. Ah well, he thought, it was nice while it lasted.   
  
.  
  
"Did Inuyasha give you a nice bath?" Kagome asked the baby, as she fastened the diaper around his little waist. The baby's response was a twitchy little smile. "Did you have a nice bath in the too-hot water? Yes, it looks like you did!"  
  
Inuyasha shot her a filthy look from the campfire. "Just let it die, willya?" he said.  
  
Kagome fastened the adjusted cap on the baby's head, making sure his ears weren't squashed inside. He was watching her with wide golden eyes. Then suddenly he began flailing around and making noises like "ehehEEEE!", trying to reach his little arms up to her.  
  
Kagome scooped him up and cradled the baby against her. He's such a sweet little thing, she thought, letting him grab her fingers. She had babysat for some cute babies before, but this little guy was something special. And it wasn't just that he looked like Inuyasha. He was so alone in the world -- his mother was gone, and who knew when they would find his father, who might not even know he existed. He needed the group -- and Kagome hadn't ever really felt so needed before.  
  
He's just so cute, she thought, twiddling his puppy ears and watching him kick in response. So cute and so sweet.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

x.

The next few days were difficult.

The baby had another bout of colic, which reduced him to wild sobbing throughout much of the night. An increasingly worn Inuyasha bounced across the treetops with the howling baby in his arms, while Kagome frantically skimmed through the baby books.

Miroku and Sango managed to sleep through the worst of it. It might have been that they were getting used to the baby's cries, or it might have been, as Inuyasha bitterly pointed out, that Miroku kept stuffing little bits of his old robe in their ears.

During the day, Inuyasha refused to let anyone else carry the baby along. At first Kagome couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Then she remembered Koga boosting the baby over his head. I guess he feels a little worried about anyone else handling the baby, she thought.

But when she asked Inuyasha about it, he just snorted. "Feh. I'm not that attached to the kid."

"Sure you're not."

"What's THAT supposed to mean!"

And so they travelled to the village where the dog demon was said to dwell.

x.

"So, that's the place," Inuyasha mused.

On his back, the baby snuffled and yawned. Inuyasha reached back and patted the carrier, to make sure the baby was securely attached. He seemed to be doing that pretty often.

Spread out in the valley below them was a large village, fringed with small farms and houses. One end of the village bordered on a large lake, and small children could be seen playing on the sand. If Kagome looked carefully, she could see an unusually large house in the middle of the village -- probably the headman's house. It was a pretty, almost idealized village.

"This can't be the one," Sango said skeptically. "Koga said that a dog demon was attacking the village. This one doesn't look like it's been attacked by anything."

"Think again," Inuyasha said. He sniffed loudly. "Smell that?"

"No," Kagome said. "What do you smell?"

"Burned wood, and a few hints of old blood," Inuyasha said grimly. "And there's something missing from the air. There aren't any demons nearby."

"No demons?" Shippo asked incredulously.

"None," Inuyasha said. He shifted the baby carrier higher on his shoulders.

"And in my experience," Sango added, "demons only evacuate an area if they're afraid of something. Like a monk or priestess... or a much stronger demon that might want to kill them."

Inuyasha nodded. "Exactly. Which is why I think that we've come to the right place. I just hope this stupid trip wasn't for nothing, and we've found the baby's father at last."

He set off down a winding dirt road, fringed with thin willow trees. Kagome followed behind him, dangling a charm bracelet to entertain the dog-eared baby. His tiny face split into a wide, toothless grin, and his little golden eyes sparkled. One of his tiny clumsy hands grabbed at the bracelet.

But if this demon is the father, she thought, would he be a good one? If he's attacking human villages, he couldn't be a good father to a half-human baby, could he?

Suddenly Inuyasha stopped and growled. A cloud of dust was rising from the road ahead of them, and the figures of running villagers were slowly coming into view. They were holding axes, bamboo spears, gardening tools and even a few old swords, and were waving them around in a desperate manner.

"There he is!" one bellowed. Other cries rang out:

"The one with the white hair, at the front! He's the one we want!"

"Get back, you filthy demon!"

Inuyasha dropped into a fighting stance, and his claws cracked ominously. At the sound of angry voices, the baby began to whimper piteously. "Looks like they're not in the mood to talk," Miroku said, raising his staff.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
